Battleship HMS Ajax (1912) was a King George V-class dreadnought built for the British Royal Navy in the early 1910's. [17] She later supported the landings in southern France. Dit werd echter tegengehouden door Winston Churchill, die vond dat een schip met zo'n indrukwekkende staat van dienst beter gesloopt kon worden.

The German "pocket battleship" cruiser Admiral Graf Spee had become a nuisance to British interests and this led to the Royal Navy forming a dedicated attack group to end her reign as a raider. She was renamed HMS Ajax in 1867 and was broken up in 1875. She was built at a total cost of £78,000. She was paid off and placed on the disposal list in October 1926 to meet the tonnage limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. [10] Ordered under the 1910–1911 Naval Estimates,[11] the ship was laid down by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering at their shipyard in Greenock on 27 February 1911 and launched on 21 March 1912.

ISBN 0-85177-685-X. This was a large operation, involving most of the Mediterranean Fleet and part of a wider set of ship movements, Operation Coat. Eight of these were mounted in the forward superstructure, four in the aft superstructure, and four in casemates in the side of the hull abreast of the forward main gun turrets, all in single mounts. The Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or there was a strong possibility it could be forced into an engagement under suitable conditions. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Siege of Tobruk. De HMS Ajax was een lichte kruiser van de Britse Royal Navy tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Daarna werd de HMS Ajax gestationeerd in de Middellandse Zee. After commissioning in 1913, she spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Home and Grand Fleets. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. Force X also bombarded the port of Durazzo (now Durres) and set the oil refinery on fire. [18] As the 2nd BS was departing Scapa Flow in the darkness, Ajax collided with a trawler, but suffered no significant damage. [2] She returned to Alexandria on 16 October. Crew: up to 750 officers & men. She evacuated many troops from Crete up until 29 May. She was designed by William Bateley and was the only ship built to her draught. Ajax arrived at Plymouth at the end of January; the following month, she was handed over to Chatham Dockyard for refit. 158–60, 162–67, 205–11, 227–28, 237, 254, bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, intercepted and decrypted German radio traffic, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy, Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea, Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project - HMS Ajax Crew List, List of dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Ajax_(1912)&oldid=983308840, World War I battleships of the United Kingdom, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 October 2020, at 14:11. In February 1942, she was adopted by the civil community of Halifax. The 2nd BS conducted gunnery practice in the Moray Firth on 2 August and then returned to Scapa Flow.

This ship was the eighth in the Royal Navy to bear the name. Ajax's crew numbered 869 officers and ratings upon completion. 12/17/2016 [28], The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea, but a series of miscommunications and mistakes prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. By April 1917, the 4-inch guns had been removed from the hull casemates as they were frequently unusable in heavy seas. HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the British Royal Navy during World War II. At the end of her West Indies deployment, Ajax returned to Britain for refit. Het was de eerste zeeslag in de geschiedenis waarbij uitsluitend vliegtuigen werden gebruikt. On 31 December, she joined Force Q at Bône, in Algeria for the interdiction of enemy convoys and convoy defence. | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com. Vervolgens maakte ze deel uit van Force K in Malta en bleef daar tot mei 1942.

Ajax was hit seven times by the Germans: X and Y turrets were disabled, structural damage was sustained and there were 12 casualties including 7 killed. Ships Damaged or Sunk by Enemy Action in WWII", Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy, "HMS Ajax - Leander-class Light Cruiser", List of cruisers of the Royal Australian Navy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Ajax_(22)&oldid=981982667, Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal Navy, World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 5,730 nmi (10,610 km; 6,590 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (quadruple mounts), This page was last edited on 5 October 2020, at 14:49. [24] The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before proceeding south in response to intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft, but only arrived in the area after the Germans had withdrawn. It was therefore necessary to arm them with guns of 12.5 inch calibre, as against 16 inch in Inflexible, and to accept a maximum speed of nearly two knots less. It had been found that in shi… [6] She then returned to Bermuda and was redeployed to the South Atlantic Division in March.

At the beginning of June, Ajax was in Sevastopol, although she was in Batumi, Georgia, by 22 June, where she remained until 9 July to cover the evacuation of the city by White forces.

Beatty then ordered the Grand Fleet to sea to intercept the Germans, but he was not able to reach the High Seas Fleet before it turned back for Germany. [31], By 18 July 1919, Ajax was assigned to the 4th Battle Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet and was refitting in Malta.

Het schip heeft tijdens de oorlog deelgenomen aan verschillende bekende zeeslagen. [2], From 2 to 16 October, Ajax was engaged in major fleet manoeuvres to interdict Italian convoys to Libya and to protect British convoys to Malta.

After Nicola Fabrizi was neutralized, the British force divided up the targets and sank all four of the Italian merchant ships. She carried enough coal and fuel oil to give her a range of 6,310 nautical miles (11,690 km; 7,260 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Ajax was present and decorated at the Battle of Jutland. [2], Ships of the King George V class were powered by two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, each driving two shafts, using steam provided by 18 Babcock & Wilcox boilers. She was another 74-gun third rate ship of the line, fully rigged sailing ship. As a result, the operation was confined to the northern end of the sea. The fourth Ajax started life as the sixth HMS Vanguard and was built at Pembroke and launched on 25 August 1835 and commissioned in 1837. [12] Ajax herself was hit by seven shells that destroyed one of her whalers,[13] caused severe damage to the bridge and radar installation[12] and 35 casualties, including 13 killed. HMS Ajax was a 78-gun third rate launched in 1835 as HMS Vanguard. HMS Ajax (22) was a Leander-class light cruiser launched in 1934. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. After the war, Ajax was used to repatriate German sailors from the crew of Admiral Graf Spee from Uruguay back to Germany – a historic irony since Ajax had been a member of the squadron that battled the German ship in 1939 and ultimately caused her to be scuttled. Her fighting motto became "None but Ajax Can Overcome Ajax". The reasons for the German ship's withdrawal and her failure to exploit her advantage are unclear, but there was damage to her bows, that affected her sea-worthiness, and to her fuel systems. [2][12], From 15 to 20 November, Ajax and four other cruisers [note 8] transported troops from Alexandria to Piraeus, the port of Athens, and returned to Alexandria.

The group would number eight strong (three eventually to become part of the related Amphion-class) and one of her number - HMS Ajax (22) - saw her keel laid down on February 7th, 1933.

Calle Exeter was named in honor of the ship, after HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax provided assistance to the citizens of Concepción, following the 1939 Chillán earthquake. [29], In April 1918, the High Seas Fleet again sortied, to attack British convoys to Norway.

The fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force to sweep the Heligoland Bight, but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea. Ajax Icefall at the head of Visca Anchorage, King George Island, in the South Shetland Islands is named for HMS Ajax, which assisted in the search for a boat crew from the Discovery II, missing on King George Island in January 1937.

HMS Ajax (F114) was a Leander-class frigate launched in 1962 and broken up in 1988.

The Churchill Centre: Winston Churchill on Ships and the Navy, "HMS Cumberland – County-type Heavy Cruiser", http://www.hmsajax.org/ajax-cruiser-casualties/4559492468, "H.M. In februari 1948 werd het schip van de sterkte afgevoerd en zou het worden verkocht aan de Indiase marine. ("Zarebas" are breakwater-like structures on ships, intended to deflect sea-water off the deck and away from exposed installations), The second deployment included battleships HMS, Sources differ on this action's details. [4], Like the Orion class, the King George Vs were equipped with 10 breech-loading (BL) 13.5-inch (343 mm) Mark V guns in five hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, all on the centreline. The author Warren Tute's service on HMS Ajax during the 1930s formed the background for his novel The Cruiser.

Almost three weeks later, Ajax participated in another fleet training operation west of Orkney during 2–5 November and repeated the exercise at the beginning of December.

Ajax was decommissioned in February 1948. Design. Her armament was 74 guns; 28 x 32 pounders on the gundeck; 28 x 18 pounders on the upper gundeck; 14 x 9 pounders on the quarter deck; and 4 x 9 pounders on the forecastle. She was part of Force X[note 7] which was detached from the main fleet on 11 November to sortie into the Straits of Otranto, between Italy and Albania, to provide a diversion and give cover for the successful naval air attack on Taranto. 4 steam turbine engines producing 31,000hp. 1 x Floatplane aircraft (catapult-launched, recoverable). Permanent repairs were arranged to take place in the United States and she was taken in hand at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia; these lasted until September. Toch bleef het schip tot 29 mei Geallieerde troepen evacueren van Kreta naar Egypte. Op 18 november 1949 kwam HMS Ajax aan in Newport om gesloopt te worden. Armament: 10x 13.5” and 16x 4” guns + 3x 21” torpedo tubes. Ajax was placed in reserve in 1924 before being sold for scrap two years later in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.